Senior Baseball Pitcher With Wrist Pain On The Pinky Side Of the Wrist

by Greg
(St. Louis, MO)

I have a nagging wrist pain that developed over the summer. The pain is on the "pinky" side of the wrist. There seems to be a bone that sticks up slightly where the wrist and base of the hand meet. The pain is directly in front of that bone.

I am almost 50 years old and play in a senior men's baseball league. I am a pitcher and have thrown about 90 innings last summer (2009) and have thrown about 70 innings this year.

There really isn't any swelling that I can see, but the pain is a dull throbbing pain unless I take my other hand and hit the spot with my index finger.

Anti-inflamatory doesn't seem to help much. I only have about 2-3 more games this year so I am looking forward to shutting it down.

However, we have had a break for about 2 weeks and the situation has not gotten worse, but it also does not seem to be getting better. How long will I need to imobilize the wrist before I start to see improvement?

Also, is there a possibility of injuring the wrist to a greater degree if I play out the last 3 games or is it simply a choice of how much unpleasentness I can handle.

Thanks,

Greg Poniewaz

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Joshua Answers:

Hi Greg.

First off, rock on for staying active. You're not even 50 so it's not -that- big of a kudo, but you get what I'm saying.

Second off IMMOBILIZATION IS BAD! Not bad like it's going to kill you, but it's not effective. It does limit additional irritation to an irritated dynamic, but other than that it doesn't help fix anything.

You could paralyze the arm for 12 months, turn it on again, start pitching, and you'd be hurting again before too long. PLUS you'd have all the side effects from not having used/moved your arm for a year.

I'm more a fan of actively reversing the problem while staying active. Reducing irritation is good, immobilization...not so much.

Notice how you, and others, seem to be somewhat surprised when they have given their arm a rest but the pain still hasn't gone away? The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

So...a couple more games won't kill you. Will it injure you? Probably not. Will it make it hurt more? Probably. (Notice I'm vague...everybody is different and I haven't seen you in person.)

I say probably because if you have Tendonitis then it's most likely that you you just have a Pain Causing Dynamic in place. It's possible you have some wear and tear damage, of course, or something more significant, but from what you've said I'm guessing it's minimal if anything. But there's definitely a progressive dynamic of increasing tightness and pain.

1. What have you done to help this issue? How'd it go?

2. How long has this been going on? Ever had pain like this before?

3. History of injury?

It's a good thing you don't notice much swelling. It's -probably- just a case of TOO TIGHT MUSCLES in your forearm.

Comments for Senior Baseball Pitcher With Wrist Pain On The Pinky Side Of the Wrist

I am 30 years old still playing semi pro baseball. I have had elbow pain since i was 18.

Ive had the Cortisone Injection this year for the first time and it did nothing for the pain. Do you recommend the same icing as the Tennis elbow for throwing in baseball? The pain is on the bottom, top and back of the elbow(if your palm is face down). The worst part of the pain is definitely on the bottom or if you are just standing with your hands at your side, it would be the inside part of your elbow.

I am going to try to ice like you recommend for tennis elbow, but wondering if you recommend anything different for baseball players that have a bad elbow.

Also is there any vitamin you recommend to help, or take IBP while icing? Should i ice before a game or do heat before a game? After a game how long should you ice, and do you recommend the ice drip or the ice cups?

12 years, or 50, it's all just a progressive dynamic of various factors. Reverse the factors, no pain.

Is the self care the same for baseball players? Ultimately, yes. There are some specific variables that comes with pitching, but tommy john surgery type injury doesn't happen for no reason. It happens for very specific reasons.

And tendon and/or ligament injury isn't just a matter of 'oh the structure tore'. There's far more going on before it ever gets to that point.

I recommend the ice dip and the ice cups. Ice dipping is more superficial/get it all, ice cups are used with massage so that does something different entirely.

As far as nutrition, see the Magnesium For Tendonitis link in this thread. That's a good one.